In its Christian usage, fellowship designates the actions and events that occur in the context of other-centered activities with fellow believers. For Whitney, fellowship specifically refers to communal contexts among Christians where one’s attention is focused on God: “By fellowship I do not mean socializing […]. Biblical fellowship […] involves talking about God and the things of God” (225). It is an important element of Whitney’s message about Balancing Inward and Outward Disciplines, particularly in the context of evangelical Christianity, which tends to emphasize the individual experience of faith. Whitney thus stresses that the two sides of Christian practice are mutually reinforcing, with solitary disciplines better equipping the believer for communal ones, and vice versa.

Godliness is the central goal of the spiritual disciplines in Whitney’s vision. It comes from the word godly, which generally refers to having a pious character. In classical Christian usage, however, the meaning runs deeper still: Godliness is the virtue of God-like-ness, or having a character shaped in such a way that it reflects the moral character of God. Spiritual formation brings the believer into greater conformity with the pattern of Christ’s own life, teachings, and virtues, and to that end, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life emphasizes Intentional Practice in Spiritual Growth.

Whitney uses “meditation” in a specifically Christian sense. This differs from the customary way the word is used in the broader culture, where it often refers to the calming and mind-clearing techniques popularized by Eastern religious traditions. By contrast, Christian meditation refers to a thoughtful, intentional mulling over of the Scriptures in one’s mind—for instance, contemplating the significance of particular word choice and reflecting on the thoughts and feelings it evokes. In Whitney’s framing, it is a key inward discipline with natural ties to others; for instance, meditating upon a particular verse can inspire avenues of prayer. This reflects the book’s emphasis on Scripture as Both the Foundation and the Fuel for Spiritual Growth.

Spiritual disciplines are intentional actions and habits implemented in the Christian’s life, such as fasting or prayer. For Whitney and others in the Protestant tradition, these habits are not ends in and of themselves; rather, they have the effect of putting one in the position of more fully receiving God’s sanctifying work in one’s soul, leading ultimately to the development of a godly character. Whitney specifically defines spiritual disciplines as those that appear, by either example or command, in the pages of Scripture as being specifically designated for ongoing Christian practice. This emphasis on the biblical foundations of spiritual disciplines is integral to the book, serving as a cornerstone of Whitney’s case for the disciplines’ relevance in evangelical Christian life.

In Christian terminology, spiritual gifts are talents or aptitudes that are given or empowered by the Holy Spirit. In some cases, these spiritual gifts may have a clearly supernatural element to them, but in many cases, they are ordinary skills and aptitudes that, when honed and used for the glory of God, shape the character of each person’s form of service to the church and the world. They are thus a key component of the outward disciplines, though the process of determining one’s gifts may involve more inward disciplines, like prayer.